Thursday, 10 March 2011

Commitments

"And at Scotland Office questions yesterday, West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin sought an answer from the Government as to what progress there had been on the establishment of a commission to examine the so-called West Lothian Question.

Scotland Office Minister David Mundell replied:

"The Secretary of State and I have regular discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister on various issues, including those concerning the constitution. The Government remain committed to establishing a commission this year to consider the West Lothian question."

There then followed this further exchange on the matter, which frankly failed to shed a great deal of light on the Government's intended timetable:

Harriett Baldwin: The Deputy Prime Minister told us that the commission would be established by the end of 2010, then the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mark Harper), told us that it would be established in the new year. Does the Minister know on what date in 2011 the commission will be established?

David Mundell: I am not able to give my hon. Friend an exact date, but as she will know, it is a commitment of the coalition Government to proceed with the commission, and I am sure announcements will be made shortly."

Harriet Baldwin should not misplace her hopes on this latest commitment as the Coalition made many commitments in the document: "The Coalition, our programme for government". This document committed, amongst other things, to provide a re-call system for MPs and to provide for local referenda. Yes, those measures are going through Parliament, yet what the Coalition did not say in their 'manifesto' is that on the re-call system the final decision whether that could take place will rest with Parliament themselves; and on the second, that the Coalition did not state that local authorities could ignore the result of any local referendum. David Cameron was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph on 2nd October 2010 stating that society's "poorest and most vulnerable" would be protected, yet this is not happening with cuts to public services for that section of society.

Like a growing number of people in our country I am competely disgusted with the venal, vacuous, obfuscatory and dictatorial behaviour of those that we elect. I fear that if they do not recognise the deficits in their behaviour and voluntarily change their ways, the British public will, one day, change those for them - and, as I have posted previously this process will, of necessity, be bloody!